29. Virginia

I know there is a lot to Virginia, maybe even enough to place it higher some day, but for some reason I can’t help placing it here.

Marine Corps War Memorial

I associate Virginia with my one trip to the state back when I was 10 years old and stayed in the DC suburbs. There was a lot to take in from Arlington Cemetery, to Mount Vernon, to the Marine Corps World War Two memorial. I thought all of that was really neat, but the highlight of my trip was never the time I spent in Virginia. All I wanted to do was spend each day in DC because Virginia just didn’t offer what really excited me about visiting the area.

And my issue with the state as a whole comes back to those affluent DC suburbs. Government work is an industry, and there’s no way around that. And that isn’t necessarily my problem because it is important for our government to have enough workers to support it. Moreso, the issue stems from everything that impacts the government while not being a part of it: Lobbying, defense contracts, business defense law firms. All of these together take shape in Virginia making the state the site of many of the things toxic to our country. And they do make money, making the area around DC one of the wealthiest areas in the country. As you may have been able to tell from my Mississippi ranking, I much more appreciate the character of our struggling regions than the upscale areas, and that is exactly why Virginia places here

Jamestown, VA, the first English settlement in what would become the United States

But there’s so much more to Virginia. The history dates all the way back to Jamestown in 1607, and it’s the home to many of our nation's founders. I really want to spend more time in the panhandle to see where the state meets the Appalachians. And that region could not be any more different from the northeastern part of the state. 

Virginia is a big state, and, for me, there is still so much to see. I’ve never been to any of the state’s biggest cities or the coast. But until I really see what the state has to offer and prove that it is more than what I didn’t like, it will have to rank here.